Nominees for officer positions for the term beginning 11/18/2022 until the annual meeting in 2024:
Chairperson – Lisa Smilnak
Biographical Statement
Lisa has worked at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library at Cleveland State University since 2013. In her role as Digital Content & Special Collections Librarian, she manages the addition of the school’s law journals and faculty publications to the university’s institutional repository, EngagedScholarship @ Cleveland State University, and preserves, catalogs, and digitizes historical print, audio, and video materials from the law school’s archives and special collections. She also serves as the library’s government documents coordinator.
Lisa began working in libraries while an undergraduate at Kenyon College. She then worked at high school and public libraries prior to her current position at Cleveland State. Her Master’s in Library and Information Science is from Kent State University. She presently serves as an Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board member and is a member of the American Association of Law Libraries, the Society of Ohio Archivists, and a variety of library and digitization interest groups and organizations.
Personal Statement
I first learned of the Cleveland Archival Roundtable while focusing on archival administration in library school around 2010, and I’ve missed very few meetings since then. I have found it to be a valuable and welcoming community, even when I had not yet secured an archives-related position. Though the idea of taking on the position of Chair is a bit daunting, I would appreciate the opportunity to give back to the organization. I especially like the thought of working as a team to continue coming up with programming ideas.
Vice Chairperson – Christine Liebson
Biographical statement
Christine Liebson is an archivist serving Kelvin Smith Library’s Special Collections and University Archives team at Case Western Reserve University. She earned her MLIS from Kent State University and her BA from Denison University. She also holds a DAS certificate from SAA. She has worked in public and special libraries and is a member of SAA and SOA. Christine lives in Solon and enjoys exploring the outdoors with her family.
Personal Statement
As a member of CAR, I value the space and time that meetings and programs allow for making local connections with people new to the field, people with great depth of experience, people seeking to develop skills or archival programs, as well as supporters and users of archival collections. Serving on the Steering Committee of CAR has helped me to become more aware of the many and varied archives in the greater Cleveland area, but there is always more to learn and explore. If re-elected, I look forward to helping CAR continue to provide opportunities for dialogue and professional growth in our local archival community.
Communications Chairperson – Tess Hamilton
Biographical Statement
Tess Hamilton is the Digital Projects Librarian at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She has a B.A in History from Cleveland State University and an M.L.I.S. from Kent State University. Prior to joining CMA in January 2022, she spent four years as the Assistant Photo Archivist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Personal Statement
I would like to be considered for the position of Communications Chair for the Cleveland Archival Roundtable. I am back in the area after being away for several years, so I am eager to take a more active role in the profession. I am detail oriented, work well on a team, and have strong organizational skills. The continued preservation and access of archival materials is important to me and I’m excited to be involved with this organization.
Program Chairperson – vacant (no nominations received)
Secretary – Meghan Hays
Biographical Statement
Meghan Hays is the Local History Librarian at the Shaker Heights Public Library. She received her M.S.I. in Library Science with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from the University of Michigan, where she also received master’s degrees in History and Russian and East European Studies. Originally from Maine and Washington DC, she attended Grinnell College in Iowa and has lived in Shaker Heights since 2003. She has also served on the Shaker Historical Society Board, the Shaker Heights Landmark Commission, and the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board.
Personal statement
Over the years I have appreciated how the Cleveland Archival Roundtable offers opportunities to get to know fellow archivists, to learn about projects and collections of our neighboring institutions, and to create community across Greater Cleveland. I have been active in CAR since I started working at Shaker Library in 2004. When the CAR steering committee was reconstituted four years ago, I was asked to serve, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my fellow steering committee members to bring archivists together by planning interesting field trips and exchanging news and best practices. If re-elected for my final term, I look forward to continuing to build and strengthen the Greater Cleveland archival community.
Treasurer – Kristin Silvestro
Biographical Statement
I am the Corporate and Philanthropic History Archivist at the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) and have been in this position 4 years. I have an MS in Library and Information Science: Archives Management and a MA in History from Simmons University. I have worked in a variety of archival settings including a university, children’s hospital, presidential library and museum, and for a local Cleveland company assisting with their DAM and archives.
Personal Statement
CAR helped me to stay connected to the profession when I moved back to the Cleveland area after grad school looking for jobs, and it has continued to offer good programs and opportunities to meet other local archivists and learn what other repositories are doing. I am interested in getting more involved with the local archival community, and taking a more active role in CAR seems like the perfect way to do that.
Cleveland Archival Roundtable 